Nightmares Never End
by Ninja Without A Nindo
Summary: Neji and Tenten finally admit to having feelings for one another. But, everything is starting to fall apart on them. Can they hold onto each other through this ongoing nighmare? Or will they lose each other? . . . And fall . . . fall . . . fall . . .
1. Third Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha

**A/N: Okay, my first fic of all time. I had this posted on a while ago, but then I took it off, just because it wasn't going very smoothly. Now, I have two ultra-awesome betas!! Thanks so much to Your Existence and Silent Screams! Also, this chapter is dedicated to ImmortalSasuke, who also gave me a whole bunch of help!**

**This is a very ANGST and M fic, please understand that. Rape, Lemons, and so much more . . . Also, please note that this fic will probably end up rather long.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: The Third Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha**

Tenten stood at the door to Neji's room, hands poised to knock. Why on earth was she nervous? So what if Neji asked her to meet him at the Hyuga Compound after her training with Lee? It was no big deal . . .

_Big deal? . . . but it __is__a big deal! Okay, okay, calm down. Would I be nervous if Lee asked to talk to me?_

_**Hell no! **_Her self confident inner Tenten snapped at her.

_But, then again . . . Lee's . . . well . . . Lee . . . and Neji is . . . well . . . cool and a genius . . ._

_**And you almost killed him when you and Lee were sparring.**_

She felt her self writhe in guilt _I thought he was Lee. It wasn't like I knew it was him._

_**It' okay. Besides, you didn't actually almost kill him. Just almost castrated him, that's all . . . **_

_Tenten tried to shake off her inner self and frowned as it continued to ramble. __**On the other hand, to him, it's probably the most important part of his whole anatomy.**_

She blushed as the thought about what had happened during that sparring match earlier that day. . .

* * *

"All right! Lee! Tenten!" Gai snapped at the two aforesaid ninja, "You have half an hour for a sparring match before Neji shows up! Do not kill your opponent. It's not very nice. Other than that, have fun and SHOW YOUR YOUTHFULNESS!!" Lee looked pumped up and Tenten looked more than a little annoyed.

"Start!" Gai snapped, and the two took on defensive stances.

Lee started to attack the girl, putting her on defensive as she dodged his punches and kicks.

"Leaf Hurricane!" Tenten jumped up to avoid Lee's kick, drawing out two kunai and holding them in a defensive stance. She ducked one of Lee's punches, but wasn't quite expecting a kick. She skidded several feet before recovering. Lee took this moment to hide himself in the surrounding shrubbery.

Lee crouched in the tree, looking for an opening in Tenten's defense.

_I must use the element of surprise._

_**Her weapons can be used in close and far range attacks, but you only have close range attacks.**_

_Right . . . so, I must get her down before she is able to use her weapons._

Tenten stood shakily, panting as she gripped her large scroll. Her eyes darted around, scanning the area around the clearing, trying to sense Lee's chakra presence.

_Dammit! Where the hell is he? _She gripped a kunai in her hand, ready to defend herself in case a certain green spandex sporting teammate of hers decides to pop up for a surprise attack. Tenten steeled herself as a rustle was heard behind her.

"Ha!" She threw the kunai and whipped out several shuriken from a pocket in her Chinese styled shirt. She threw the stars, which whizzed through the air at the intended target, as she whipped around to face her attacker. She froze, not knowing if she should laugh, cry, or die of embarrassment at the sight which beheld her. Terrified white eyes started back at her as she did all three. Ninja stars pinned Neji Hyuga's arms and legs to a tree and the kunai was embedded in the tree in between his legs, dangerously close to a certain area in his anatomy. He stared at her, wild eyed, and then down to the kunai, and gulped audibly. Suddenly, in a confusion of green spandex and orange leg warmers, Lee and Gai fell out of a tree, right beside Tenten, laughing uproariously as tears ran down their faces.

"Let us . . . " Gai gasped as he tried to catch his breath, "Applaud Tenten for her perfect aim . . . " He doubled over, laughing uncontrollably.

"Her . . . " Lee held his sides, which ached from the laughter, "_Almost_ perfect aim."

Gai looked over at the fuming Neji, who was being held to the tree by the weapons lodged in his clothing, and gulped, "We shouldn't ever piss Tenten off, she could castrate us easily."

Tenten looked a bit peeved as she blushed, not quite knowing if she was just complimented or insulted. She stalked past the two fashion disasters to her immobilized teammate. She rolled her eyes as Neji glared at her, trying to protect his shredded dignity. She removed the shuriken from his pant legs and reached down to remove the kunai when he struggled, not completely trusting her. He accidentally brushed his crotch against her hand as she yelped, jumping back three feet. She glared at him, pulling out the kunai and the other two ninja stars brutally, which caused them to "accidentally" rip huge gaping holes in his clothing.

Gai and Lee, who just got a hold on their laughter, were forced into side splitting laughter again at the sight of Neji's shredded Hyuga robes, which didn't quite cover the necessary places. Neji growled, trying to cover himself up, which only served to increase the hilarity of the moment for the two. Tenten blushed, looking up at Neji's face, "You need a change of clothes?" He scowled at her, making her whip out a kunai. He stopped automatically. He didn't want another close call with her weapons. Tenten stared at the Hyuga, "Would you rather wear my red pants and white shirt or a suit of green spandex?" she asked him. Neji automatically conjured up an image of Tenten minus said clothing and turned the brightest possible hue of red. It was as if he was choking down a spoonful of the Curry of Life. Then, he quickly recoiled at the thought of Gai or Lee wearing only a vest and legwarmers. That thought almost made him puke and turned him the weirdest shade of white, then a green which I'm pretty sure was not natural . . .

"Oh, please," she scoffed, "Not the ones we're wearing. Spares. My red pants and white Chinese shirt or Lee's suit. Take your pick."

He gingerly fingered the clothes she pulled out of the packs, going behind a bush to change into Tenten's wine red bottoms and white top. When he came out, embarrassed, Gai and Lee almost blew up. The pants, which fit Tenten fine, were too short, not to mention too small, for Neji. They looked like skin tight red leggings that pressed a little too tightly on his . . . ahem . . . making them stand out a bit too much. Obviously, these were female pants. Then, the top didn't even reach his navel. The only place _not _tight was the chest, which was too loose. It was rather disturbing, really. Needless to say, Neji Hyuga did not look very nice in a mid-rift shirt and ultra tight capris. Just . . . not right!

He grabbed the green suit and went back to the bush. He changed into Lee's clothes and felt very, very uncomfortable. He stepped out, and this time even Tenten joined in on the laughing. Neji looked, annoyed, at his teammates and sensei as they laughed at him. Well, he did look rather dumb in the green clothes. He thought about it

_Should I wear this? And be laughed at by everyone?_

_Or should I wear Tenten's clothes?_

He shivered at the thought of the gossip that could come from that. There was no way to tell his friends how he ended up wearing Tenten's clothes without telling the whole story. In the process, injuring his pride and, not to mention, his ego. Not that they would believe him, anyways. They would automatically jump to conclusions. However, it's not like he could get away with wearing his tattered robes in public. Not without getting arrested. He sighed, he had forgotten that Lee and Tenten were sparring today. Team Gai was going to celebrate their A ranked mission's success at a barbecue shop. There was no way in _hell_ he was going to be seen in public wearing Lee's clothes.

"Um, I think I'll pass on going out to eat," he winced at the clothes, "I don't think I could be seen in public wearing this."

Then, there was a kunai pressed to his balls. Well, then. A little humiliation was okay, as long as it was a little humiliation with his balls intact.

* * *

An hour later, he wasn't so sure. Neji had planned to eat as quickly as possible and go home as soon as possible so that he could change back into his normal attire. Then, as soon as they entered the restaurant, he knew it wasn't going to happen. Instead of leading them to a booth, the waiter led them to a back room. With a sinking feeling, Neji heard a certain blond hyperactive knucklehead.

_Please let this be a competition between Gai and Kakashi. Please let this be a competition between Gai and Kakashi. Please let this . . . _

Another voice interrupted his thoughts, "Can we please start eating already, Asuma-sensei? They are never going to get here!"

_Oh shit! This is great! Great! JUST DAMN GREAT!!_

"Akamaru! Drop that now! You aren't supposed to eat that, no . . . Akamaru!!"

_Why today of all days??_

"Hey! Ino-pig! What do you mean? I'm fat?"

"You're not fat Sakura."

"You're just ugly."

"Hn."

"Sakura. Stop strangling Sai."

"But . . . Kakashi-sensei . . . "

"Kakashi-senpai is right. Sakura, let go of Sai."

"Puppyface Jutsu will not work on me, Sakura. It won't work on Yamato either."

"Asuma-sensei, how did you drag us all here? This is so troublesome."

"He just wants to see Kurenai-sensei!"

"I can't eat this! I'm on a diet."

"Yeep!"

"Hinata fainted."

"Hinata! Hinata! What happened?"

"You idiot! You touched Hinata's breast, that's what happened!"

At this, Neji slammed the door open, bursting into the room to see his cousin on the floor, an unhealthy shade of red, with Sakura wiping Hinata's face with a towel. Naruto turned to see a furious Neji leaning over him.

"Naruto," Neji's voice was deadly quiet, "What did you do to my cousin?"

Naruto merely opened and closed his mouth in shock. For a moment, everyone in the room was silent, and all the eyes of the people in the room were glued to his form.

Kiba started laughing, "Okay, honestly, who the hell are you and what the hell did you do with Neji Hyuga?"

At Kiba's loud comment, Hinata woke up. She looked up to see Neji wearing the hideous outfit and fainted again. A creepy sort of silence enveloped the room at this. All eyes were on Neji, once more, and he was getting rather fed up with the unwanted attention.

"Gai . . . ?" Kakashi began slowly, "What happened?"

Neji looked up from Hinata for the first time since entering the room. With each moment, he felt sicker and sicker. In the room were also Tsunade, Jiraiya, Iruka, Shizune, Anko, Genma, Iwashi, and Raido. Heck, even Ibiki was there. In the corner was Ebisu, lecturing Konohamaru about Sexy Jutsu while Udon and Moegi were staring at their sensei's massive nosebleed. Yugao, Kotetsu, Izumo, Hayate and Aoba looked up from their conversation to stare at Neji. Hana was smacking Kiba. He even saw Shikaku, Choza, Inoichi, Tsume, Shibi, and Hiashi at a table. Kurenai, Asuma, Gai, Kakashi and Yamato stood to the side. Some other ninja he didn't know were also staring in amusement. They've heard about, or seen, Neji Hyuga, the famed prodigy. Hell, they respected him! But it was kinda funny to see the Hyuga dressed like Gai and Lee. The Third "Beautiful" Green Beast of Konoha!

_This isn't some celebration for a mission. This is some huge ninja gathering!! Shit!! I will never be able to show my face in Konoha again. NEVER!!_

Then, he groaned out loud as he saw Hanabi run into the room.

_I'm never gonna get any respect after this!_

* * *

Tenten blushed and shut off her inner self _Why does he want to talk, anyways? Hopefully, he won't kill me . . . _

She shook her head again to clear her thoughts. She raised a shaking hand to the door, poised to knock when the door slid open. Tenten's center of balance was shifted and she felt herself pitch forward alarmingly. She squeezed her eyes shut, preparing herself for impact with the floor. . . but it never came. Neji stepped out the door and caught her as she fell into him. In a matter of seconds, Tenten's face became exceedingly red as Neji's arms encircled her. Her face was buried in his shoulder. However, had she been able to see his face, she would have seen a rare sight. Neji, the mysterious Hyuga prodigy, was smiling. Lo and behold. All of a sudden, a playful voice broke the silence.

"Um . . . H-hey guys . . . "

At the voice of the shy Hyuga heir, the two jumped apart, abashed. Tenten was blushing an even deeper crimson than before. And Neji was sporting a spot of pink that was easily noticeable because of him pale complexion.

"Hinata!" Neji turned even redder, looking a lot like said heiress when Naruto was around. Tenten chewed on her lip nervously, eyes glued to the floor as if the wood was the most fascinating thing in the world.

Hinata giggled, "I was n-never here!" and quickly ran past the two. Slowly, Neji turned to Tenten and motioned her in the room with a jerk of his head.

_So . . . This is Neji's room. _She looked around at the assorted furniture placed around the room. Neji closed the door behind him and crossed the room, sitting down on the bed. He motioned for her to join him. Tenten perched, rather nervously, on the edge of the bed, staring down at her hands, which were plucking at the covers. A long silence increased the awkwardness of the moment. Even Neji was at a loss as to what to say.

Tenten bit her bottom lip.

_I want to be the one nibbling on that lip._

She looked down at the covers, twisting a lock of bangs with her fingers.

_I want to run my hands through her hair._

Tenten looked up at Neji, staring at him through a thick fringe of her lashes. Unbeknownst to her, the shy look actually looked very much like a "come and get it" expression, which caused Neji to gulp and feel his pants starting to tighten uncomfortably around him.

Wanting to do anything to break the silence, he took a long breath, "Tenten, I . . ." he blew out the breath and started again, "Ever since we . . . I . . . " What the hell was wrong with him? He's Neji Hyuga! Neji Hyuga is always sure of himself. Always! But the bulge in his pants wasn't helping matters any as he tried to focus on saying something. Anything! He tried once more, "What I mean is . . . " He took another long breath, "I like you." He stopped and looked at his hands, embarrassed at his outright confession. Okay, that wasn't exactly what he wanted to say. Then again, Tenten was . . . distracting, to say the least. Oh well, now he has to live with his confession. Tenten was so surprised that you could knock her over with a feather. Her mouth opened and closed in shock as she tried to register what he just said.

_Neji . . . likes me??_

"You're not kidding?" she asked, after another long pause and she regained her voice. She squinted hard, scrutinizing his face, "Who are you and what have you done to Neji Hyuga, dammit!"

"I . . . what? . . . you . . . " he was stammering again! And he blushed . . . again. He _knew_ this would happen.

_**Face it. You blew it! **_Neji winced at his inner self's voice _**She probably likes some other guy and thinks you are stupid for saying this! You are making a total fool of us, Neji.**_

He made no move to disagree with his inner self. After all, he was right. He was always right. He was, after all, Neji Hyuga, the Prodigy of the Hyuga clan, who had the all seeing eyes.

Tenten giggled at his expression.

_**Nice . . . how does it feel to be ridiculed, oh most highest one?**_

Before he could retaliate with a barbed comment, Tenten paused in her giggling. Still smiling, she asked him, "Are you sure?"

_Why did I do this in the first place? _Neji fumed at himself

_**Exactly what I want to know. You are going to make us the laughingstock of town. What on earth were you thinking?**_

His mental battle was interrupted by Tenten, who smiled sweetly at him, "Well, if you aren't sure . . . I may very well go after Sasuke." She smirked as he automatically looked horrified and furious at the same time. She giggled at his reaction.

_**NEJI HYUGA LIKES US!!**_

_Well . . . _

_**Face it. He loves us. Look at how mad he is that you would even think about going after Sasuke!**_

_Maybe he's just out for revenge after the little scene today. After all, no one would believe that I pinned him to a tree and cut up his pants. They thought that he wore it on purpose. Ugh!_

_**Yeah, right. We know Neji better than that. He wouldn't stoop that low. Now, do something already!**_

Tenten smiled, "Well in that case . . ." she never finished the sentence. Instead, she leaned over and kissed him, their hearts thumping in unison. To Neji, her lips were indescribably soft. He kissed her back, making her moan against him. She opened her mouth, allowing him entrance as their tongues intertwined in a furious dance of pleasure. Then, the two of them separated, panting, as their lungs screamed for air.

_I was wrong. She does like me. For once, I am glad I'm wrong._

They fell into a companionable silence, each thinking their own thoughts until Neji broke the silence.

"Umm . . . so . . . would you like to do something together sometime? Take a walk, grab a bite, train . . . " he was rambling, making it obvious that he was nervous.

"Sure!" Tenten smiled, "How a picnic? We could talk and stuff." She blushed at what "and stuff" entitled of.

Neji thought for a moment, "How about tomorrow. Hokage Faces?"

Tenten smiled back, "I'll bring the food." She got up to leave, then impulsively hugged him. "Bye!" she kissed his jaw and ran out the room, closing the door behind her.

_Yes! I have a date with Neji!_

She ran, hugging herself, from the Hyuga compound, blissfully unaware of the white eyes following her out.

* * *

**A/N: Oh, in my fic, everyone has an inner. Not really like Inner Sakura, but like an inner conscience or something that talks to them and stuff. It's just to have the characters talk to themselves and argue with themselves, which I think is fun.**

**Please review. Comments, helpful suggestions, flaming, I don't care. Seriously, but I would LOVE it if you clicked on that little button. Heck, I even accept Anonymous reviews!!**


	2. Question of Sincerity

**A/N: Alright! WOW! I am totally impressed! I actually got on the favorites and alert lists of some people! And . . . I got reviews!**

**This chapter is totally dedicated to my three reviewers: Ally1313, ImmortalSasuke and weaponmistressbunny**

**Totally, totally thank you guys!**

**I only dragged my lazy ass over here to post another chapter because I got reviews!!**

**And props to my awesome Betas!!**

* * *

**Chapter 2: A Question of Sincerity**

The next day, Tenten was, needless to say, a nervous wreck. One can't possibly expect less. After all, she _is _on a date with Neji, one of the _hottest _shinobi in Konoha. She fussed with her hair, wrapping red ribbons around the buns on her head as she took a last look in the mirror. Perfect! She didn't change her look much, but she looked neater than usual and you could tell she put in the effort. She ran out of the bathroom, grabbing the hamper she packed for the two of them.

_I'm off to see Neji!_

* * *

Neji stepped out of the Hyuga Compound, on his way to the Hokage Faces. He walked slowly, enjoying the sunshine and fresh air. He carefully avoided the main roads, trying not to bump into any of his friends. None of them would ever let him live down yesterday's fiasco. Still, he bumped into Sasuke in one of the alleyways.

Sasuke looked the Hyuga up and down before giving the "Uchiha smirk", "Much better. I almost thought you would still be wearing that ridiculous outfit." Neji scoffed, not bothering to tell the Uchiha the real story. After all, he probably wouldn't believe the truth. Already, there were several different versions going around the village. One of them even claimed that he was ranting on about "youth" with Gai and Lee. He shivered.

_Like that would ever happen! I am sick and tired of hearing about damn youth!_

The two prodigies stood, sizing each other up. Ever since Sasuke came back to the village a couple years ago, they weren't really friends. They were okay with each other and saw each other once in a while when everyone had time to get together, but they usually didn't talk much. They rarely went on missions together and, both being quiet, they didn't really have much use in idle chitchat.

Still, Neji remembered resenting the Uchiha when he came back. Almost everyone did. Sakura had been so torn when he left that she was severely depressed for a long time. All the other girls that used to fawn over the Uchiha prodigy quickly recovered and acted like it was no big deal. However, Sakura didn't recover. She couldn't. Her heart was shattered into a million pieces. She rarely went out, no matter how hard they urged them to. Even Neji became concerned, after Tenten and Lee filled him in on how bad she was getting. It had taken everyone's joint efforts to help her pick up the broken pieces of her heart and continue with life.

So, naturally, everyone was really wary of Sasuke when he returned, mostly because they didn't want him to run off and hurt Sakura again. Still, she accepted him back. It took a while for her to fully trust him again, but she accepted him.

A couple months ago, they started dating. After Lee, Naruto, Ino and Kiba openly threatened him with several different ways of slow torture if he ever hurt Sakura again, he got the message.

Or, it could be Tenten brandishing some sharp pointy objects . . . and Shino with his kikai bugs flying around.

And Shikamaru sizing him up.

And Chouji looking like someone called him a fatty.

And Sai with his scrolls out.

Well, there was also Hinata in her fighting stance . . . and Neji backing her up. Heck, he couldn't have his little cousin fight alone, right? Come to think of it, everyone had become rather attached to the pink haired girl. Sasuke found out that, if he ever hurt Sakura, there would be hell to pay from all her friends. Heck, maybe even some of the senseis would join the brawl. He would never survive.

Of course, Sasuke understood why they acted like that. He had been a total asshole. But he and Sakura were getting along fine. The Hyuga knew that, surely.

The two looked at each other, sizing each other up once more, before going their separate ways.

* * *

Tenten walked down an alley, a shortcut to the Hokage Face Monument. She wanted to be there early to set up the picnic and surprise Neji. Besides, she liked being early. It satisfied her inner obsessive compulsive perfectionist self. She hummed as she skipped along the alley, her thoughts preoccupied with a certain Hyuga, and it was definitely not Hinata she was thinking about.

_Is he going to show up early? Or late?_

_**Tch, right on time, probably, knowing him.**_

_Would he like the picnic?_

_**He'd better like it or else I'd give him a piece of my mind. Maybe throw a couple senbon into the deal.**_

_What are we going to talk about?_

_**Tenten, this is Neji we are talking about. NEJI! You can talk about anything! Missions, training, Lee, Gai, yesterday . . . ooh . . . better stay off that topic for now . . . **_

_Is it going to RAIN!?_

_**Nope. At least, I hope not . . . **_

_Oh God, please don't let it rain!!_

All other thoughts were cut short by the sight of a tough looking Sound Ninja looming in front of her.

_Since when were Soundnin welcomed in Konoha?_

_**Um, try the day after never?**_

She took stock of the time. She still had 45 minutes. That more than enough time to take this guy down and report him to Lady Tsunade and still get to the Hokage Faces in time. She reached behind her for a kunai when firm hands gripped her wrists.

_What?!_

_**They snuck up on us?**_

_But how? It's impossible! I'm always the most cautious! Gai-sensei said so!_

_**You should have been on your guard.**_

_Oh well, I still got Taijutsu. It's nowhere as good as Lee's, but it's enough for something like this._

She braced herself, "Leaf Hurricane!" She swung her leg around, tearing from her attacker. he ducked her kick, wickedly fast, and grabbed onto her legs, slamming her against the wall. He pinned her there, snarling. Then, an evil grin, much more disturbing, took its place, "Let's have some fun with you, shall we?"

Tenten's eyes widened. The spiky grayish silver hair . . . the arrogant smirk . . . the glasses. A man feared and hated in Konoha . . . Kabuto . . .

* * *

Neji sat on the top of the Sandaime's head, looking around for Tenten.

_Relax, relax! She will be here. She will be here. _

_**It's only 11:45. There's still 15 minutes before she is late.**_

_Besides, Tenten wouldn't be too long. After all, she is an obsessive compulsive punctual perfectionist. She'll show up. Just wait and see . . ._

* * *

Two hours later, Neji wasn't so sure. He kicked a rock, venting his anger upon it.

_She didn't come._

_**Of course! She's probably off somewhere, laughing over this with a couple girls!**_

He punched a large boulder, shattering it.

_I knew this would happen!_

_**Why did you tell her you liked her?**_

_Tenten is such a nice girl . . . how was I to know she would do such a thing?_

He pounded and hit anything within arm's reach; a deadly whirlwind of fury. However, there was still an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

_Where is Tenten? Did anything happen to her?_

It was almost five and Neji was beat, tired and hungry. He headed home, angry beyond description, fury and pain clawing at him from the inside out. Rage burned at him. But beyond these feelings, frustration and resentment burned him, clouding his mind. Beneath this, he was hurting. He was in pain from being rejected. The only way he could show it was through anger. He was in no mood for company. He wanted to be alone, so he stormed off to his room, leaving confusion in his wake.

He laid down on his bed and stared, unblinkingly, at the ceiling. Thoughts circled his head.

_Tenten . . . why? . . . where . . . Tenten . . . _

_**No! Stop! Don't think about her!**_

He jumped up from the bed, and punched his wall.

_I was so sure she liked me!_

_**She is playing games with you . . . **_

_Why?!_

The sound of knocking on the door interrupted his thoughts. When there was no answer, the door slowly opened.

_I'm not in the mood to see anyone!_

He whipped around, only to see Hinata carrying a tray of food. She sat it down on his bedside table and watched him as he sat down on the bed.

"W-Why were you not at dinner?" Hinata asked, concerned, "Neji . . . I-I was worried."

Neji started eating as Hinata watched, sitting down beside him. He sighed, shaking his head before looking away.

Hinata stared at him, concerned, "Wh-What is it?" She asked tentatively, "Is . . . Is it . . . " She stopped.

Neji drew a long breath, "It's Tenten."

Hinata turned to him, sitting cross legged on the bed, "Well, Wh-What's wrong? Did she . . . act strangely today?"

"NO!" Neji snapped, causing Hinata to jump, startled. He stopped, "I'm sorry, Hinata, forgive me."

Hinata sat down again, placing her hand on Neji's shoulder, "Brother, W-What's wrong?" She asked, concerned

"It's nothing," Neji brushed it off, but Hinata persisted, "Brother, you're upset. P-Please tell me why."

Neji passed a hand over his face and took a deep breath before continuing, "It's that . . . I think Tenten is playing games with me."

Hinata furrowed her brow, "But . . . T-Tenten's such a sweet girl!"

Neji was also frowning, "I know . . . that's why I am so confused."

The two stayed up, talking, as the atmosphere became lighter and more comfortable. However, Neji still couldn't help feeling that something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

* * *

"K-Kabuto . . . " Tenten writhed, struggling in his grasp.

"Come, now," He laughed at her fear, "It's okay. I won't kill you."

She reached behind her for a kunai when the burly sound ninja that Tenten encountered first held a knife to her neck, "One move, and you die!" he hissed.

Kabuto pressed her against the wall, his body too close for comfort as he tied a gag around her, "There's a good girl," he purred, stroking her cheek.

Tenten struggled against her captors, but the kunai dug deeper in her throat, drawing a fresh stream of blood.

"Your life is in our hands," Kabuto said, smoothly, "Understood?"

She glared venomously at him. He chucked, a sneer covering his face, "Then I will make you understand."

Deliberately, Kabuto placed his hands on her shoulders, inching his way down her body. She became terrified.

_What are they doing?_

_**I don't want to know!**_

_I wanna get out of here! Please! Let me go!_

For once, her cocky inner self had no comment.

Her skin crawled with disgust and fear as the perverted sound ninja's hands moved down, cupping her breasts, pinching her nipples, before going down and stroking her sides. He squeezed her butt, dragging his hands along her thighs and to the junction of her legs, cupping her. He painstakingly explored every inch of her body. He slowly unbuttoned her shirt. He, then, proceeded to cut the fabric into ribbons, exposing her creamy skin. Bit by bit, the fishnet shirt she wore under her clothes became exposed. He ripped off her garments, tearing them to pieces, as he removed his own clothing. The larger sound ninja held the kunai steady, eyeing her curves, as Kabuto forced her into the wall.

Kabuto fingered her curves and the soft skin of her body. He leaned forward to lick her breast. He bit her nipple, sucking at the nub, as he caressed the large mound of flesh. He fondled her breasts as he sucked on her skin, licking her slender neck. He licked his way down her collarbone to the valley of her cleavage, which he nuzzled and licked. She shrank from his touch, only to be trapped by the wall. He held her immobile against the wall as his mouth traveled lower to her stomach. His tongue swirled over her navel before heading lower. The other sound ninja held her to the wall as he knelt, his hands on her thighs, to taste her. His tongue entered into her womanhood, greedily lapping at her. Her body protested the foreign invader, but he paid her no heed. His hands roughly parted her legs as he positioned himself over her. He entered with a forceful push. She screamed, but was muffled by the gag, trying to twist away from his iron grip, to no avail. He laughed at her fear and pain. He impaled her barrier, shoving roughly into her. The pain clouded her vision, black spots dotting it.

_This isn't the way it was supposed to happen! It wasn't supposed to be him! It was supposed to be gentle lovemaking. Tears that were kissed away. This is wrong! No . . . NO . . . NO!!_

Then, the pain overcame her as he thrust deeper into her, making her arch her back in pain. There was no pleasure. Only pain . . . endless pain . . . he grunted as he pressed her into the wall, bruising her unmarred skin. He ground himself into her, forcing her to take in all of him. There was no pretense of love. There was no lie of being gentle. It was animalistic and cruel. He sank as deeply within her as possible and released himself into her as the welcoming waves of unconsciousness lapped at her. It was much better that she was out cold, so that she did not have to experience that pain again, as Kabuto began moving inside her again. He pushed deeper, ever deeper, pleasuring himself with her body. He emptied himself into her, over and over, staining her purity and stealing away her innocence. Her body hung, limp, defeated as he ravaged her.

When he was fully satisfied and sated, Kabuto let go of the brown haired girl. She fell in an unceremonious heap at his feet. The other soundnin removed the gag around her. He had his fun by drawing long cuts along her smooth skin, the crimson flooding the creamy white.

"Lord Orochimaru is expecting us soon," Kabuto dressed and left the alley, and the girl, behind.

* * *

**A/N: Ooh, rape. Sorry, had to put that chapter in for reasons only known to me . . . MWAHAHA . . . but seriously, it's for plot reasons . . . Yeah . . . weaponsmistress bunny, you have read til like chapter 12 or so, please do not spoil it for the others! I'm kidding, you wouldn't ever. Anyhow, please review, flame, whatever. I would LOVE some feedback. Thanks!!**


	3. Bonding Time

**A/N: Alright, This fic is getting so much more attention than when it came out the first time! I am so HAPPY! Like, I'm giddy with happiness! Honestly. People are actually READING the crap I write! You know how much that flatters me that 77 different people read this already? It means TONS!! And, I actually got reviews! Like, as in, real live gosh darned reviews! As in . . . WOW! Honestly. I was totally kidding about the give me review and I will give you a chapter thing. If I even got one review, I was going to post another chapter! But . . . WOW! You guys are actually subscribing and . . . I'm totally AMAZED!!**

**But enough of this crap, I know that you guys just want to know what the heck is gonna happen . . . So . . . here we go . . .**

**By the way, this chapter is dedicated to weaponsmistressbunny, who stuck with this fic from the first time it came out to now. I'm SO TOUCHED by the fact that someone is staying with me through all this! sniff I feel so special!!**

**And, thanks so much to my AWESOME betas! I couldn't have done this without you guys, Your Existence and The Indigo Schemer****! You guys rock! Like, totally!!**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Bonding Time**

"Hinata, what have you been doing lately?" Neji asked his cousin. However, before the kunoichi could reply, there was a knock at the door. A servant entered, bowing, "Lady Hinata, your visitors are here."

Neji looked blankly at the girl, "Hinata, it's 9:30. Visitors? If it's Naruto, I'm going to have to be present the whole time, under your father's wishes. You _do_ know that, right?"

Hinata blushed at the mention of Naruto, who had recently started noticing her, "It's not Naruto. It's the girls."

Neji looked confused, "What are they doing here at this hour?"

Hinata laughed at her cousin's confusion, "It's a slumber party, Neji. We've been going on missions for a long time, this is a good chance to have some girl bonding time."

Neji shook his head, "What will you be doing? Doing your makeup? Making each other dress up? I thought you were grown up, responsible kunoichi, not children playing dress up!"

Hinata rolled her eyes at her cousin, "I-It's no different than you guys beating each other up. Female bonding time is much less . . . life threatening."

Neji grunted. Last time all the guys got together, there was massive chaos. Kankuro and Gaara were visiting Konoha at the time, and showed up to the gathering. What proceeded was . . . interesting . . .

* * *

Lee grabbed Neji's hand, dragging him off to training ground where the guys agreed to meet.

Chouji was hovering over the portable barbecue grill, still with perfect concentration. Kankuro and Kiba were guzzling sake and Akamaru was so drunk that he couldn't even walk straight. Shino and Sasuke were discussing different jutsus with Gaara, totally ignoring the scene in front of them. Naruto joined the drinking group, betting that he could drink more than Kiba, who was already half drunk. Sai looked on the whole scene, impassive, as Lee headed over to the half tipsy guys with sake bottles. Neji made no move to stop him. After all, it was funny when Lee got drunk, albeit rather destructive. Shikamaru laid down on the grass and started stargazing, since it was a cloudless night.

Soon, there was a fine line between the sober and the drunk. Everyone except Sasuke, Shino, Gaara, Sai, Neji and Shikamaru was drunk. Naruto was loudly talking as the others laughed, goofy expressions on their faces.

" . . . and then she started moaning and screaming. . . " Naruto never finished the sentence though. Neji had already socked him with a chakra filled fist, and Shino's bugs were going in for the kill.

"No one talks about my cousin like that and gets away with it," Neji declared in a low voice.

"What did you do to Hinata?" Shino asked, his voice threatening, as his bugs starting to coil around Naruto's body.

Kiba interfered, "H-Hey now . . . n-no need to be . . . hic . . . hasty, right?" his words were slurred.

"He was talking trash about Hinata," Shino's voice was low and threatening.

"O-Oh!" Kiba tried to get into a fighting stance, but couldn't, because he was too drunk, "C-Come . . . on Akamaru . . . Man-hic-Beast Clones." Then the two of them charged at Naruto, running drunkenly.

Lee defended Naruto, "He was o-only retelling . . . hic . . . what he heard between Sh-Shikam-maru and I-Ino."

Shikamaru became livid, "He WHAT??"

Then, there was an all out brawl of every man for himself. There were quite a few complaints made to Tsunade about it being too loud. Eventually, Sakura and Ino were sent to investigate the matter, since Tsunade didn't want to bother with it. They had arrived to a scene of utter disaster. All the guys were on the ground, moaning. Several were puking their guts out, also. All of them were sent to the hospital, and Tsunade was rather miffed that some of her best ninja and the visitors from Suna had a party with sake and didn't invite her. Then again, it was called "male" bonding time for a reason . . .

The first thing Neji and Lee woke up to, the next day, was a screaming Tenten. She ran around their shared hospital room, yelling at them for being such dumbasses and for almost killing their friends. Lee had asked her to be quiet because he had a raging headache, courtesy of the 4 bottles of sake he downed last night. That caused her to scream even louder about how irresponsible men were and how the village will have a shortage of ninja this week thanks to them. Then, she began to rant about how all the men on her team were crazy or irresponsible or prone to do rash things, or all of the above. Then, the poor guys had to hear Tenten continue in her extended lecture until they were sent home by Tsunade.

Yep, Tenten was not a happy camper that day.

* * *

Neji smiled at the memory of the "male bonding time", but a voice broke his reverie.

"N-Neji?" Hinata looked worriedly at her cousin, "Y-You've been spacing out."

"Hinata?" Hinata heard Ino's high pitched voice.

"Bye!" She slipped out the room to greet her guests.

* * *

Ino, Sakura and Temari followed Hinata into the heiress's room. She motioned for them to place their bags by the wall as they entered the room, giggling and talking amongst themselves.

"Hey, Hinata?" Hinata turned to the pink haired girl, "Why isn't Tenten here?"

"Yeah!" Ino turned from her conversation with Temari, "Where is she?"

Hinata shrugged, "I-I don't know."

Temari looked at the shy girl carefully, "You're hiding something. What happened?"

Ino looked skeptically at Hinata, "Hinata, you didn't have a fight with her, did you?" The idea of sweet Hinata quarrelling with Tenten was so absurd that Ino, Sakura and Temari burst into giggles. However, the giggles faded awkwardly at Hinata's pained expression.

"No kidding?" Temari frowned, "You had a fight with Tenten?"

Sakura raised her eyebrows, "For real?"

Hinata shook her head, her long hair swishing around her face. She looked down, nervously, and began to play with her fingers, "W-Well . . . n-n-not me . . . specifically . . . "

Ino furrowed her brow, "Tenten's nice. I mean, yeah, she's dangerous. Heck, even Hinata is deadly. But, she's nice. She doesn't go around picking fights for no reason."

Hinata nodded her head in agreement, "T-That's what we thought too . . . "

Temari narrowed her eyes, "We? Tenten picked a fight with more than one person?"

Hinata shook her head again, still not looking up from her twiddling fingers, "Sh-She didn't r-really pick a fight . . . "

Sakura flopped onto the floor with a sigh, "Now you're just confusing me. Start from the top, Hinata."

The pale eyed girl knew her friends wanted to help, but this wasn't exactly her secret to tell, "B-But . . . it's not really about me . . . "

Ino frowned at Hinata, "Look, we want to help. If there's something going on with Tenten, we can help. We are her friends, but we are also your friends. You've gotta let us in on this."

Hinata nodded her head slowly, finally looking up to meet the eyes of the three concerned kunoichi, "Y-You s-s-swear not to tell?"

Ino pouted at Hinata, "We would never tell!" Sakura gave the blonde a sideways glance. Ino crossed her arms over her purple midriff shirt, "I would never tell Hinata's secret!" When Temari also gave a skeptical glance, she sprang up from her seat on the floor, "Damn it! I'm not going to tell, okay?"

Temari turned and smiled at Hinata, encouraging the shy girl, "We won't tell. Go ahead."

All three girls leaned in to hear Hinata as she explained that she was worried about Neji because he was confused by Tenten's contradicting signals . . .

* * *

Neji stared at his ceiling, trying to concentrate on anything except a certain brunette girl. Yet, wherever his thoughts wandered, she appeared out of nowhere. Damn it! His thoughts circled his head.

_I can't think of any logical reason as to why Tenten would stand me up._

**_You so sure about that?_**

_She would never play with my feelings like that!_

**_She just did!_**

Neji ignored his nagging inner self to focus on his thoughts. He could hear her speak in his head, picture the way she smiled, remembering the way she cried for him when she thought he was dead on one of their most recent missions . . .

* * *

_Wet . . . something wet . . . what is this?_

_It's sticky . . . _

_And warm . . ._

_Tastes like iron . . . _

_Blood . . . _

_My blood . . . _

_Is this the end? . . . _

"**_NEJI!_**" a heart wrenching scream tore around the clearing, "Neji! NO! Don't leave. Don't leave me! Please! Don't go . . . Don't go . . . Don't leave . . . please! I need you . . . please! Neji! Neji! Neji, stay with me . . . focus . . . Neji! Don't leave me! Don't leave me! Don't leave me, _please_!" Tenten whispered the last word, pressing her forehead into his bloody chest, "Neji . . . don't die on me!" the words were muffled by her tears and his tattered robes.

_Who is that?_

_Tenten?_

_Yes . . . Tenten . . . _

_Why is she here?_

_Leave me alone, Tenten . . . I want to sleep . . ._

_Leave . . ._

Another voice could be heard, "His heart rate is dropping! We have to get him back to Konoha and to Lady Tsunade!"

_Me . . ._

"Lee . . . we can't move him in that condition. There's not enough time . . . "

_Alone . . . _

A scream pierced the air as the pale eyed boy's heart stopped beating. Hands were placed on his chest. One thrust . . . Two thrusts . . . Three thrusts . . . Lee focused on the chest compressions.

_What is this?_

Tenten opened Neji's mouth before gently placing hers on it.

_Warm . . . wet . . . _

She gently blew in. Once . . . twice . . .

_Tears . . . _

"He's breathing again. There's also a pulse," Gai mumbled through his tears. He embraced Lee and ran joyous circles around camp.

Neji opened his eyes to see Tenten's chocolate eyes staring down at him, tears streaming down her scratched and slightly muddy face. Her pink shirt was slightly torn and her hair was disheveled. Still, Neji thought it was the most beautiful sight ever.

She wiped the tears away with the back of her hand, "I thought I lost you . . . " Then she buried her face into his chest, sobbing into him. Surprisingly, he didn't mind. He smiled down as the usually tough brunette dropped her guard. For some odd reason, he liked the fact that she didn't keep up the tough outer appearance with him . . .

* * *

Neji winced as the memory brought a twinge to his chest. He heard the giggling voices of the girls and automatically thought about Tenten's laugh.

He flopped onto the bed, smothering his face with a pillow in hopes of diverting his thoughts. However, his mind stuck persistently to the thoughts of the weapon's mistress.

He got out of bed and changed from his Hyuga robes into a fishnet shirt and some shorts. However, instead of going to bed, he sat down at his desk, fishing scrolls from different drawers. He rubbed his face with his hands before beginning to read the scrolls.

No doubt about it, he would get no sleep tonight.

Still, he couldn't focus on anything. His mind refused to cooperate and think about the words on the page. He rubbed his eyes, tired, before trying to read the contents of the scroll for the fifth time. Tch, of course he knew all too well why he couldn't pay attention to the scrolls he was trying to study. A certain brunette was plaguing his thoughts. He sighed, pushing his hair back from his forehead. He stood up and walked over to his closet, getting his ninja clothing.

Maybe some training alone was just the thing for his wandering mind.

* * *

"Hey!" A certain hyperactive knucklehead shouted as he spotted a familiar figure in the dark street, "GAARA!!" Naruto ran across the street toward said redhead. He lunged at the ex-jinchuriki in a bear hug. Gaara didn't really appear to be angry at this form of greeting, just rather annoyed. Kankuro, on the other hand, was still amazed that Naruto was able to touch Gaara affectionately, without being killed. On the other hand, Naruto was a bit different from the fangirls always fawning over Gaara . . .

Naruto finally broke from the hug, because Gaara has limits even with his closest friend. Naruto didn't mind too much, after all, Gaara changed a lot since the first time they met at the Chuunin Exams.

"This is so stupid, Naruto," A bored voice was heard from behind the blonde kyuubi host, "Why the hell did you drag us out here in the middle of the night?"

"I agree with Sasuke. This is all so troublesome," this came from a specific Nara, who yawned as he said this.

"Well, you see . . . " Naruto rubbed his head, smiling, "Sakura said something about the girls having some sort of bonding time together. It's been a while since we all spent some time together, and Gaara and Kankuro are here. So, I decided that we could have another go at some male bonding time."

This automatically drew a response, "Oh, God, no! Heck, even Akamaru had a hangover last time!" This comment was accompanied by a whine.

Naruto rolled his eyes, "So, we just won't have alcohol this time. It can't be that bad, can it?"

There were several mutters and moans. However, a voice piped up, "It will be a gathering where men bond together in their youthfulness by fist fighting!" Lee stared up at the late night sky, tears running down his face, "Oh, Gai-sensei, I will do you proud!" He did the "nice guy pose", gleaming white teeth flashing, bushy eyebrows raised, the whole shebang.

Five minutes later, everyone was still blinking at the blinding flash of Lee's teeth. Except Shino, that is. But he was wearing sunglasses, and that's cheating.

After everyone could finally see clearly, Naruto looked at the gang of guys in front of him.

Okay . . . Naruto, check. That was a given, after all, he initiated this meeting.

Sasuke, check. Naruto dragged the Uchiha out of his apartment first, though the raven haired boy cursed and tried to resist. However, he knew that Naruto wanted him to be there, and he knew that Sakura would also like him to put in the effort to at least try to look like he is trying to be social. Heh, who was he kidding? The Uchiha? Social? But, hey, it's the thought that counts . . . So, he went, albeit with grumbling.

Chouji, check. Naruto showed up at Chouji's house, Sasuke in tow, and "persuaded" him to come by bribing him with a knapsack of chips. Of course, Chouji doesn't like turning down free food. So, he went without a complaint, munching chips along the way,

Shikamaru, check. When Shikamaru opened the door to see the blonde, dragging Sasuke along, and Chouji pigging out behind him, he knew what was going on. He didn't want to go to any stupid "male bonding" things. Heck, last time was a disaster. Tsunade had given him a lecture about them not being responsible (though Shikamaru knew that she was just peeved at not being invited to a party with sake) and having many of her best nins to become unavailable for a prolonged period of time. Then, his mom showed up at his hospital room, which inevitably led to another long lecture. Women. But, it was too troublesome to fight back, so the hyperactive ninja used his free arm to tow the Nara along.

Kiba, check. Kiba was walking Akamaru when the group crossed him. His mom was out on a mission and Hana and her boyfriend were at home. Being an Inuzuka means that he has keen senses. With that comes acute hearing. However, the fact that he can hear Hana and her boyfriend going at it from a block away is just downright gross. He didn't want to hear his sister screwing a guy. That's just wrong! So, rather than argue, he just went along with the other guys. Anything to get his sister's screams off his mind.

Shino, check. Okay, it took a while to get Shino out. But then again, it's not like Shino's really against being social. It's just that he doesn't really want to talk much, which kind of beats the point of being social. However, Naruto used a Shadow Clone and he ended up being dragged along with the group. In actuality, Shino didn't really mind going along. However, that would break his image of being an antisocial guy. So, he was dragged by Naruto on their way to recruit more people.

Lee, check. They didn't actually have to go looking for Lee. The green clad taijutsu user ran to join them, all too eager for another go at some "bonding time" and to hone his skills against his friends.

Sai, check. Sai read in a book that "male bonding time" was important in friendship, so he went along, smiling his cheesy smile the whole time. The fact that he reads this stuff was kinda creepy, but they were all used to it, eventually.

Gaara, check. They were going to go to the Sand Embassy to drag Gaara out. However, they encountered them on the street just now.

Kankuro, check. Kankuro was with Gaara when the guys met them. Rather than put up a fight, he just went with the group. After all, Naruto was good for Gaara. And, it was actually pretty funny the last time they did this.

Naruto frowned as he studied the chatting group.

_That only leaves Neji . . . _

"HEY!" he instantly grabbed everyone's attention, "We're getting Neji, and then heading off to training ground 4!"

They entered an alley, making their way to the Hyuga Compound when they stumbled upon a huddled figure on the ground.

They stared, horrified, at the sight before them.

"TENTEN!!"

* * *

**A/N: And, I know everyone demands reviews at the end. But, seriously, they are SO encouraging to the writer. Honestly, like, I'm not even kidding! So, please just review. Send me your feedback, do you like this fic? Any ideas for the plot? Anything you particularly hate? Any pairing that particularly bugs you? Is it so OOC that you're going out of your mind? Is it so cliche that you think I'm just copying it from some cheezy Soap Opera? Or, do you just want me to hurry my ass up and post the next chapter? Seriously. Feedback, please? I get motivation by reviews. You don't really have to say much. Just review. And I will work on posting the next chapter ASAP if you do! Actually, nevermind about posting the next chapter faster if you review. I'll cut you a deal. If you review, you get a preview of the next chapter over PM. How bout it? A review for a preview. And, the next chapter should be out very soon . . . Hopefully . . . XP**


	4. Confusion

**A/N: Well, well. Seems as if the review for a preview thing really worked! I sent out teasers to 6 different reviewers.**

**This chapter is dedicated to all the awesome readers who have supported me so far. Here's to weaponsmistressbunny (You rock!!), ImmortalSasuke (Thanks for sticking with me anyways!), Ally1313, UcHiHaHyUuGa, Popping Fresh (Awesome critiques! Seriously, are you available as a beta for my future fics?), shizune99, and Seesay!**

**Oh, and I have to say something about weaponsmistressbunny and ImmortalSasuke. Thanks you guys for reviewing on EVERY single chapter (Okay, so there aren't that many chapters . . . -_- . . . I'm working on that . . . )**

**Also, total props to my awesome betas!! You guys are the best!! **

**Seriously, though, you guys aren't here to read my author notes . . . On to . . . Chapter 4 . . . **

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* * *

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Chapter 4: Confusion

"TENTEN!!" Lee shouted, the sound surrounding the guys as they stared at the scene in shock.

There was blood everywhere. Blood streaking the walls of the alley, blood pooling around Tenten's motionless body, blood soaking into the scraps of fabric littered around them, blood covering various weapons that were scattered on the ground, blood sprinkled on a smashed hamper, blood seeping into the cracks of the narrow alleyway. However, the boys were not staring at the blood, but at the figure of the unmoving girl.

Lee ran to his teammate, trying to see the extent of the damage. Cuts and bruises covered her body, streams of blood streaking her legs. Her chest rose and fell gently, making him sigh with relief. She was alive.

Naruto was livid. So what if Tenten wasn't his teammate? What if she wasn't exactly his best friend? She was his comrade. He had gone on countless missions with her, and she had saved his skin many a time. She was a nice girl . . . She didn't deserve to get hurt like this. His eyes flashed red, before he closed them, as he took deep breaths, having an internal battle with the demon inside of him.

Kiba shrugged out of his heavy jacket, handing it to Lee. The latter accepted it silently, and wrapped the girl with it.

The Inuzuka froze as the scent of the air around them hit him. There was the masculine scent of the guys around him, the smell of blood, and Tenten's feminine scent. However, there was something else . . . Then it hit him. He was smelling . . .

Shino stared at his teammate, immediately knowing something was wrong. He narrowed his eyes. Kiba must be onto something . . .

Kiba drew in a shaky breath, shocked at his new findings.

"Tenten . . . " he unconsciously shivered, "Tenten was raped."

The words echoed around them as the guys tried to digest this new piece of information.

"You're sure?" Lee asked, hoping that the Inuzuka's nose was wrong for once.

Kiba nodded sadly as his nin-dog whined, "I can barely smell it, but the smell of sex is definitely there. Akamaru can scent it too. And, judging by her appearance, it wasn't willing."

Shikamaru glanced at the blood on the wall, "Going by the blood, it must have happened hours ago."

Kiba and Akamaru both tried to get a scent, but couldn't, "We can't find who it was. The smell of blood overpowers it. The smell of sex is faint as it is. They must have left a long time ago."

Chouji gripped his forgotten bag of chips, "How the _hell _did this happen?" The usually calm Akimichi's eyes were narrowed, fury burning in him. A fury that he felt only when his comrades were hurt. Tenten was definitely hurt.

"A rarely used alleyway . . . no one would notice too soon," Sasuke mused to himself.

Naruto shouted, "_Dammit_! Who the _hell_ did this?"

"It doesn't matter at the moment," Sai spoke for the first time.

"What the hell? Of course it matters!" Lee all but screamed, turning on the ex-ANBU Root member.

"He's right," Kiba countered, "She needs treatment now."

Kankuro looked around, "How long would it take to get to the hospital?"

Shikamaru looked at all the blood around the place, "I think most of this is her blood. In that case, she's probably lost too much to last much longer."

"She needs to be in the emergency room _now_!" Lee began to panic, but Shino shook his head, "It may be too late for that."

"No!" Gaara said, suddenly, "Today, Temari said something about having female bonding time with the girls at Hinata Hyuga's home. It's close and Sakura and Ino would be there. They would be able to do something."

They all turned to look at the Kazekage, nodding at his straightforward logic. They ran to the Hyuga Compound, knowing that with each second, Tenten's life was slowly ebbing away.

* * *

Neji shrugged on his Hyuga robes, grabbing a pair of training shoes from the floor beside his bed. He began to organize his kunai pouch, before going to rummage in his drawers, trying to find some more weapons.

* * *

"Almost there!" Lee hugged Tenten's limp form to him as they sped towards the Hyuga Compound, "Stay with me, Tenten. Stay with me. Almost there!"

They landed in front of the large doorway of the Compound. Kiba started banging on the door loudly.

"Damn it!" Naruto shouted, "It's an emergency!"

A servant opened the door, about to turn away the group of boys when Gaara stepped forward.

"Lord Kazekage!" The servant bowed to the Leaf's political ally.

"I would like a word with Lady Hinata," Gaara growled dangerously.

The servant hurriedly opened the door wider, knowing that angering the Kazekage would anger the Hokage. Angering the Hokage would anger Lord Hyuga. That wasn't a position they would like to be in. So, the boys entered, rushing past the bowing servant, as they headed towards Hinata's room. Kiba ran with mad speed to Hinata's room to warn the girls.

* * *

Sakura sorted through a bag of cosmetics, "Hinata, brown of black?"

Ino frowned, looking up from where she was painting Temari's nails, "Black eyeliner, definitely. That way, her pale eyes would be able to stand out."

Sakura grinned, "Right!" She ran the eye pencil over Hinata's lash line as a disturbance was heard outside the compound.

Sakura put the pencil away as she reached for mascara, "I wonder who it is. It's almost midnight."

"I-It could be--" Hinata was cut off as running footsteps were heard coming closer.

The door of the room was thrown open. The girls turned around, about to protest the intruder, until they saw a disheveled looking Kiba stand in the doorway.

"Clean up! Emergency! Emergency!" Kiba panted out, not being able to string a complete sentence together. Hinata nodded, knowing that Kiba would never make a joke like this. If he was this worried, this was a real emergency, indeed. She started clearing the bed of makeup, magazines and hair styling items. The other girls, helped her, though they still didn't understand what the hell was going on. Technically, Hinata didn't understand either. She was sure she would, soon enough.

Then, Lee burst into the room, followed by a horde of boys, whose faces showed everything from anxious to pained to absolutely terrified.

Then, the girls' focused on what Lee was holding in his arms. Correction, _who_ Lee was holding in his arms.

"Tenten!" Sakura gasped, as Lee placed her on the bed.

Hinata looked horrified, staring at the sight of Tenten. So, this was why Kiba was so upset!

"Hinata!" Sakura snapped, tying her hair back from her face, "I need bandages and clean water!"

"Temari!" She turned to the wind wielder, "I need that red knapsack of medical supplies!"

She turned to Ino and the two of them began to look over Tenten's wounds.

As their hands, emitting green chakra, were gently placed on Tenten, the girl screamed, "NO!! NEJI! No! Don't . . . Don't hurt me! No!! NEJI!!"

* * *

The door to Neji's room slammed open, just as Neji was wrapping his arm in bandage. He sighed, continuing to roll the bandage around his arm, thinking that Hanabi was throwing another temper tantrum when he was lifted off the ground by his collar. He found himself staring into the eyes of none other than . . .

"LEE! What the hell are you doing? Why the hell are you here? Damn it! Let me down!" He was answered by a punch in the jaw, which sent him crashing into a wall with power that made a crater upon impact and made a picture fall of it's perch on a shelf. The faces of the Konoha 12 were framed by the broken glass. Lee grabbed him again, and slammed Neji against the wall with a loud smashing sound, making another dent in the all to match the first.

"Lee! What the hell?" He coughed as his male teammate slugged him in the stomach.

"What the hell did you do to Tenten?" Lee screamed at the Hyuga prodigy. Neji stared blankly at him, and was kicked in the side, causing him to crash to the ground.

"Why did you do that to Tenten?" Lee shouted at Neji. Neji became furious. The frustration that he had felt all day became fuel for his anger, "What the hell? WHAT THE _HELL_?! If anything, you should be asking Tenten what the hell she did to me!" He blocked several of Lee's punches.

"Well, how do you explain her almost bleeding to death in an alley, screaming for you to stop hurting her?" Lee kicked Neji, but Neji had stopped blocking, only staring dumbly at Lee, "What?"

Lee kicked at the Hyuga, "You heard me! She was in an alley, unconscious. We brought her here, for Sakura and Ino to heal, and she was crying and screaming for you to stop hurting her."

"Byakugan!" Neji looked in the direction of Hinata's room. Sure enough, there was Tenten's chakra signature. However, her chakra was almost depleted and it was very, very weak, distubingly so. Ignoring Lee, he charged towards the room, only to be blocked by several other ninja.

"Dammit! Naruto! Let me go!" He aimed a punch at Naruto, but was hit by Kiba, "Damn it! I didn't even do anything! What the fuck are you doing? Let me _fucking_ go!"

"So you admit it?" Shino asked, quietly.

"What?" Neji asked, confused.

"You fucked her," Sai's three words sent Neji's world plummeting down.

* * *

All the guys had run off to give Neji a piece of their minds, leaving Tenten with the kunoichi. Sakura and Ino didn't wait for the boys to come back and give an explaination. They immediately started healing the injured girl. "Temari!" Sakura barked, "Hold her down! This will hurt like hell!" Temari held down Tenten as Sakura and Ino started to draw out the dirt and bacteria in her wounds using water and chakra. Tenten screamed, as Hinata wiped her brow.

Ino began to heal the wounds and bruises while Sakura applied a little bit of chakra to Tenten's forehead, soothing the pain. She joined Ino in healing her as Temari and Hinata began cleaning up the mess of Tenten's shredded clothes, Kiba's ruined jacket and the blood soaked sheets.

Tenten opened her eyes groggily. The pain she felt earlier was gone, but the humiliation and the fear was still there. Sakura was just healing the last of her bruises as Ino, Temari and Hinata left the room to find something to eat when Tenten sat up.

"How did I get here?" Tenten looked around wildly. Sakura looked up from a shallow cut, "Well, from what Hinata collected from the guys, they were going on some sort of a "male bonding time". Don't ask me what they were thinking of doing, I don't really want to know, considering the last time they "bonded". So, they were on the way to the Hyuga Compound to get Neji when they saw you. Lee had a major freak attack and you lost a lot of blood. Well . . . if it weren't for Naruto's dumb idea to have the guys go out and meet at midnight, you would have lost too much blood by the time someone saw you the tomorrow. So, they brought you here, because us girls were having a sleepover, which you missed, by the way, instead of to the hospital, because you already lost way too much blood for comfort. And, now you're here." Sakura fumbled inside her knapsack, before retreiving a small packet, from which she extracted a small sphere, which she tossed to Tenten, "Eat this!"

Tenten caught the object and popped it into her mouth, chewing slowly on the blood pill. She looked down at herself. There were no scars, no marks to show for the terrifying day, yet, she knew that the marks he left on her were much deeper than anyone could comprehend. They were permanently intoned into her, and she would never forget it, no matter how hard she tried. Her eyes watered, but she tried hard not to let the younger girl see her tears.

Sakura saw Tenten's internal struggle, and knew that she couldn't help very much. Still, she knew that it must be hard to cope with the fact that she was beaten up and hurt while she was supposed to be a ninja. She decided to help and comfort the brunette.

"Hey," Sakura lifted Tenten's chin with a finger so that she looked the pinkette in the eye, "Let it out. It's okay. I won't laugh. I won't tell anyone. I swear." _God knows how I would feel if I was beaten up in the middle of my town, without anyone noticing. I mean, for pity's sakes, I'm a ninja . . . _Sakura sighed mentally, S_till, everyone makes mistakes. Besides, seeing the wounds on her, and the amount of blood she lost, she must have been terrified._

Tenten bit her lip and buried her face into Sakura's red shirt as she cried out the hurt, the pain, the terror and the humiliation. Sakura didn't laugh at her, didn't mock her, didn't show disgust at her weakness. She just whispered into Tenten's chocolate locks and patted her back comfortingly.

Hinata, Ino and Temari entered the room with some snacks and tea. They saw Tenten and immediately flocked over and comforted her.

Tenten sniffled, thankful for her friends, before rubbing her eyes, "Okay, better now." She could still feel his hands on her, but she didn't want to dwell on it. Instead, she asked, "Hinata, do you mind if I borrow your shower?" Hinata nodded, motioning for her to go into the bathroom connected to her bedroom. She went to her closet and grabbed a fishnet shirt, a sleeveless shirt, shorts, and some undergarments before joining her.

Tenten felt Hinata's presence behind her as the pale eyed girl entered the bathroom. Tenten felt comfortable around the gentle girl.

Hinata placed the carefully folded clothes on a rack in the bathroom, "Y-You don't h-have to put on a brave front, Tenten." She touched the girl, gently on the shoulder, "W-We want to help . . . I-If we can . . . " Tenten managed a small smile at Hinata's sincerity, "Thanks, Hinata." The Hyuga heiress blushed, and stepped out of the bathroom to give Tenten some peace.

She stepped into the shower, the hot water pouring onto her skin. It touched every single spot on her, and then . . . all the memories came back. All the things she tried to keep suppressed came flooding back. His hands, his mouth, his . . . oh God! The pain . . . the pain . . . the PAIN!! She scrubbed at her skin viciously, ignoring the stinging pain of newly healed skin being rubbed raw. She wanted to get the feeling of his touch off of her. She wanted to get rid of the feeling of him pounding into her. She wanted . . . she wanted . . . it to all just be a bad nightmare . . . But that's impossible. Because this wasn't a nightmare. This was reality. This nightmare wasn't going anywhere. The tears streamed down her face, unchecked, mingling with the soap and the water, as her body shook as she vented out all her pent up emotions.

* * *

Neji stared at Sai in shock, his mouth opening and closing, but not making any sound. He turned, and saw all the other guys staring at him intently.

_They . . . _

_**Yes . . . They think you fucked Tenten . . . **_

_And . . . no fucking way . . . _

_**Technicall--**_

_Shut the HELL up! I don't need this right now!_

He shook his head, unable to fully comprehend what the others thought he did. He walked into his room, followed by all the other guys.

They silently found their places around the room. Sai, Naruto, Kankuro and Lee sat on the bed. Shino, Gaara and Sasuke sat in the only chairs in the room. Shikamaru sad on the floor, leaning on the wall, and Kiba Akamaru sprawled out on the floor by the bed. Chouji sat beside the desk, leaning on the table. Neji leaned on the wall by the door, acutely aware of all they eyes glued on him. It was unnerving, even for a skilled shinobi like him. The silence was becoming harsher and harsher, grating on already frayed nerves.

Kiba finally broke the silence, "We expect one hell of an explanation from you."

* * *

**A/N: If this is confusing you as to why the girls aren't reacting as they should by taking things too calmly, the didn't know that she was raped. They just thought that she was beaten up and left for dead. So, they just healed her wounds, and comforted her because they thought she was shaken after she was nearly killed. Technically, she was shaken and technically, she was nearly killed. But her mental trauma was much more than they originally would have thought.**

**And . . . this chapter was pretty much another filler. I mean, it has more plot developement than the last chapter . . . but there's still not much going on. The next chapter will be much more interesting . . . I hope . . . **

**So . . . yeah . . . Anywhow . . . I was totally excited at the number of reviews I got for the last chapters! You guys are totally awesome!!! Now, same thing as last chapter. Review, and you get your own little preview. To make it worth it, I'll be sure that the teaser is 100 words. At least. Also, when you guys review, I get excited. When I get excited, I write and edit faster. When I write and edit faster, my betas get my chapters faster. When my betas get the chapters faster, they edit faster. And, when they edit faster, they get the chapters back to me faster. And . . . that means that I update quicker. Hee. So . . . Review?**


	5. Living A Nightmare

**A/N: Hey! Sorry for reviewing so late. Sorry, sorry, sorry!!**

**I haven't been on for so long, even though like ALL of my alerted fics have been updated by now . . . **

**Been totally snowed in with loads and loads and LOADS of homework. Eww . . . Anyways, this chapter is kinda . . . eh . . . I don't know . . . It was a hard chapter to write, at anyways. Keep in mind that, for the first part of this fic, the plotline will move VERY fast. Like, everything happens within a week. I'm NOT even kidding. Then, it spaces out . . . Umm, yeah. But the whole fic will happen withing the timespan of a year. So . . . That's about it.**

**Props to weaponmistressbunny, ImmortalSasuke, UcHiHaHyUuGa, hana kyuuhibi, Nocturnal Dream and Popping Fresh for reviewing!!!**

**Thanks, you all!**

* * *

**Chapter 5: Living A Nightmare**

"I owe _you _one hell of an explanation?" Neji asked Kiba with a scowl, "I wasn't the one randomly punching guys for no reason at all."

"And I wasn't the one that was randomly raping girls, now was I?" Kiba countered with a growl.

Neji's voice was even, cold and dangerous, "What are you accusing me of, exactly?"

"You raped her," Kiba faced Neji, unfazed, but rather angry.

Neji's narrowed his eyes, "How can you honestly say that?"

Naruto glared at the Byakugan wielder, "She was screaming for you not to hurt her."

Hurt flashed in Neji's eyes for a second, before they became cold and hard again, "When?"

"Just now!" Lee roared, springing up from his perch on the bed.

"Okay, can someone just tell me what the hell is going on?" Neji glared at the occupants in the room.

"We could ask the same for you!" snapped Chouji.

An unearthly scream sounded from Hinata's room, cutting off any retort Neji could have thrown back.

In silent agreement, the boys all rushed out of the door, thundering down the hallways to Hinata's room.

* * *

"What's going on?" Sakura ran into the bathroom, where the blood curdling screams were coming from. Tenten was in the bottom of the tub, screaming and writhing as the water kept running, "Tenten! Tenten! What's wrong?"

The girl arched her back in pain as she continued to scream. Ino rushed inside the bathroom, closely followed by Temari and Hinata.

"Okay! Hinata! Temari! Hold her down!" Sakura barked orders as she tied her hair up. Temari pinned down Tenten's kicking legs while Hinata pressed down her flailing arms, "Hinata! Check her for any internal damage!" Hinata activated her Byakugan and stared intently as the screaming girl, trying to escape their grasp.

Hinata gasped, seeing tiny spots of chakra rapidly moving through Tenten's body, "T-There is foreign f-fluid inside her abdomen. But . . . it's . . . it's . . . human . . . " Her voice wandered off. She blushed, unable to say exactly what it was. But both the medic nins and the Suna kunoichi knew what she meant. Only one thing could get the shy Hyuga girl so flustered. "The guys never mentioned this . . . " Ino looked uncertainly at the screaming form of Tenten. "I thought it was just outer damage . . . " Sakura wrinkled her brows. "She was raped, then?" Temari gasped. They were so focused on the girl that they didn't notice anything around them. They didn't notice that all of them were being pelted by the water from the shower. They didn't notice a number of chakra signatures coming closer. They didn't notice the door being thrown open and the guys running into Hinata's bedroom.

"Shit!" Sakura washed her hands quickly, "Ino! Bring me a pan of water! I have to pull as much of that out as possible! No, fuck that, I need to pull ALL of it out! Temari! I'm using the same thing I used when Kankuro was poisoned! Except, this time it will be with a raw wound. It will hurt like hell, but keep her down! We can't have her having a rape baby!" She used her chakra to pull the water up from the pan and thrust it inside Tenten. The unconscious girl's raw screams became louder and more pained as Sakura pulled Kabuto's essence out of her body.

* * *

Neji froze after hearing Sakura's words. His world crashed around him, smashing to bits. His eyes widened, unseeing, as they echoed throughout his head.

_Rape baby . . . pregnant . . . raw wound . . . hurt like hell . . . rape . . . baby . . . rape . . . pregnant . . . baby . . . pregnant . . . rape . . . rape . . . _

All the other guys were frozen after hearing Sakura. Shock blanketed the room ominously.

* * *

"Tenten couln't have been screaming from physical pain, just now," Sakura swiped at the sweat on her forehead and tying her hair up as Ino prepared another tub of water, "So, it's probably psychological." She inserted the water into Tenten, collecting Kabuto's seed into the ball of water, and pulled it out in a painful medical procedure.

"Sh-She isn't under genjutsu," Hinata studied the girl closely with her all seeing eyes, "B-But, the chakra in her body is flowing irregularly, almost like sh-she is in a genjutsu. M-Most likely, her subconscious is inducing a-an effect, almost like a genjutsu, on itself, because of the amount of pain and stress she underwent."

"Hey," Temari looked up from the screaming kunoichi, "Why are you guys doing this process over and over again on Tenten? Sakura only did it once with every single organ with Kankuro."

"Yes, but there was still a trace amount of poison inside him afterwards," Sakura picked up another ball of water before forcing it into Tenten's writhing form, "We cannot leave any in her, because she is ovulating, and she _will _get pregnant." She concentrated on pulling out the water before continuing, "She shouldn't have to be faced with an unwanted pregnancy on top of being raped."

"Why couldn't she just take a pill?" Temari furrowed her brow in question.

"I-It looks like there was m-more than one shot in her. . . " The Hyuga girl blushed as she stared at Tenten's abdoman, "I-It also looks as if it's been a while since this happened. A-A pill wouln't work in time."

"So, we are using the more painful, but more effective method," Sakura gritted her teeth as Tenten screamed again.

"It really shouldn't be causing her this much pain!" Ino looked really worried, and looked at Sakura. The pink haired girl knew what Ino wanted to do, so she nodded her assent, "If you must."

Ino took a deep breath, "Mind Transfer Jutsu!" Immediately, her body went limp and she arrived into Tenten's subconscious.

* * *

Ino paled at what she saw. Kabuto stared at Tenten, ogling her curves and leering at her. He grabbed her, pinning her against a wall, and thrust himself into her roughly. Tenten screamed, and, unknowingly, Ino screamed with her.

* * *

Hinata immediately turned to Ino's body, "N-No!" Her chakra pattern began to mimic Tenten's irregular flow. It turned normal, however, when Ino returned to her body, terrified.

"W-Wait!" Hinata immediately returned to studying Tenten's chakra flow, "Th-This is just like K-Kakashi-sensei's chakra when he was caught in the Mangekyo Sharingan."

"Sasuke!" Sakura snapped, noticing the boys for the first time. The Sharingan user knelt by his girlfriend, "Ino, describe what her mind looks like."

"She is replaying being raped, over and over again, like a nightmare, but it's actually happening!" Ino unconsciously wrapped her arms around her torso, as if to protect herself, "And it's literally hurting her body. It's not genjutsu, because it should have been broken by the pain of the operation. But, it's continuing."

Sasuke frowned in thought, "This is bad. The only way to break out of the Mangekyo is for the user to stop using it. However, it seems like Tenten is imitating genjutsu on herself. Only she can break herself out."

There was a silence when they grasped what Sasuke meant. She may never break out of it.

Then, the silence was broken by a scream, "NEJI!!" Tenten's breathing became erratic as, in her mind, Kabuto continued to torture her, "NOOO!! IT HURTS!! DON"T HURT ME!!" An unearthly scream tore from her throat as her chakra began to fluctuate.

"Tenten!" Neji tried to get to the brown haired kunoichi, but was blocked by several ninja.

"See? Do you see how much you hurt her?" Lee's voice was cold, but his eyes betrayed his hurt, "How could you do that to our flower?"

"Lee!" Ino sat up, panting as the shock and terro of the moment slowly left her, "It wasn't him. Let him go." The shocked ninja let the desperate Hyuga past them, to Tenten.

Sasuke got up, going back out of the bathroom to tell the guys of Tenten's unstable status. Neji took his place, watching as the girls tried everything they could to purge Tenten of Kabuto. He repeatedly called out her name, desperate for any response from her.

Ino braced herself for another try at her jutsu when Shikamaru grabbed her wrists, preventing her from doing the hand signs.

"Shika! I need to do this!" Ino pleaded, but Shikamaru wasn't convinced.

"No! Ino, you tried already. It didn't work! It won't work!" His voice was filled with panic and concern about his blonde teammate.

"It's okay," Ino hugged him, and whispered, "I'll be okay." With that, she left her body to rejoin Tenten in her hell.

* * *

"Tenten!" Neji's voice could be heard from Tenten's subconscious mind. Tenten was still pressed up against the wall, Kabuto greedily thrusting inside her. However, Ino saw Tenten visibly relax when Neji's voice broke through.

"Who's that?" Kabuto snarled, pressing deeper into Tenten.

The girl winced at the pain from the pressure, but kept from screaming.

"It's Neji! Neji, Tenten! He wants you back! We all want you back!" Ino screamed at Tenten as clones of Kabuto pressed her against another wall, "Come back to us, Tenten! We all want you back!" One of the Kabutos holding onto her slapped her, making her taste blood in her mouth. However, Tenten was already recovering.

"Neji! Neji wants me back!" All of a sudden, she transformed from a scared girl to a brave kunoichi. Seeing her resolve, Kabuto began to flicker and fade away.

"Damn you! Damn you! I'll be back!" With that, he disappeared, leaving two tired kunoichi.

* * *

Shikamaru breathed out a sigh of relief when Ino came back to her own body, "Ino! Are you alright?"

Ino gingerly rubbed her cheek from where Kabuto slapped her, but other than that, she felt fine. She turned to Neji, "Keep talking to her! She can't hear anyone but you." Neji continued to speak to Tenten as Sakura wiped her brow with the back of her hand.

"Hinata, is that all?" The weary pinkette asked. Hinata didn't answer. She was slumped against the wall, unconscious, from using her Byakugan for too long.

"Neji?" Sakura asked.

"Byakugan!" Neji stared hard at Tenten's lower stomach, "She's normal." Sakura breathed a sigh of relief, untying her hair from her ponytail, letting it fall loosely around her face.

* * *

Tenten's eyes flickered, disoriented at her surroundings until she saw a concerned face staring down at her. Tenten took in the pearl white orbs and the brown hair, every inch of his beautiful face. She smiled gently, "Thank you, Neji . . . "

Neji couldn't say anything. He just swept the girl into a fierce hug as she leaned her head on his shoulder, taking in deep breaths of his comforting scent.

Neji buried his face into her hair, murmuring comforting words for her and for her only.

"Tenten, you're okay now. You're with us. We will protect you with all our might. We will help you through this. I will help you through this," He mentally slapped himself for ever thinking that she was playing with his emotions, "I'm sorry. Instead of moping around in my room, wallowing in my self pity, I should have been there for you. I should have prevented it. I'm sorry, Tenten. I'm sorry." His tongue ran away from him, as he felt waves of relief from having her back.

Tenten drew back from his comforting embrace to stare him in the face, "Neji! It's okay. It's not your fault. I forgive you!"

He leaned forward and kissed her, gently, on the lips, losing himself in her sweet taste. He kissed her chin and traced her jaws with his lips before hovering over her ear.

"I love you," he whispered, his warm breath tickling her ear as he said the words that all women wanted to hear but all men feared to say.

The others sensed that this was a private moment, and left the bathroom. The two sat, hugging each other, blissfully ignorant of the water pelting down on them from the shower, that Tenten was completely naked, or that this would not be the end of the pain they would endure . . .

* * *

**A/N: Just as a note, yes, the guys saw Tenten when she was naked. But it couldn't be helped, and the thoughts they were thinking were far from dirty. Hell, they probably wanted to pummel whoever did it to the ground . . . Initially, I didn't want it to happen that way, but then I still needed some insights that could only be supplied by the guys (like Sasuke and the thing about the Mangekyo). But, the procedure couldn't have been done when Tenten was clothed (for obvious reasons). So, they saw her without clothes on. But, that wasn't that much of a deal. In any other circumstances, it would have been weird and awkward, but not at the moment.**

**Anyways, sorry again for taking so much time to update. Like always, review for a preview!!!**


	6. The Bitter Truth

**A/N: Alright, you guys, gomen, gomen. Sorry I had you all waiting for so long. I just haven't found the time to get on for so long (I know, that sounds so unbelievable) but it's true. Sorry again, I'll do a better job next time. Now, then, for the chapter . . . **

* * *

**Chapter 6: The Bitter Truth**

"Tenten . . . " Neji snuggled his face into her hair, inhaling her unique scent, "I'm sorry . . . "

Her sweet breath tickled his hair as she whispered in his ear, forgiving him, "It's okay. I'm alright."

Then, her eyes closed and her exhausted, worn out body drifted to sleep, Neji holding her in his arms.

* * *

"Are you sure it wasn't him?" Lee paced the floor to the point of wearing a path through Hinata's room, "You're sure he didn't hurt her?"

Ino looked at Lee from her perch on Shikamaru's lap, "It's okay, Lee. It wasn't him." She shivered at the memory of the pain she saw in Tenten's face, and Shikamaru tightened his hold on her waist.

"If it wasn't Neji, then who was it?" Temari asked as she brushed Sakura's unruly pink hair from the pony tail it was thrown into earlier.

Ino bit her lip, shuddering involuntarily at the thought of what the soundnin did to the weapon's mistress, "It was a foreign ninja."

Gaara tensed, cursing under his breath, "Suna?"

Ino shook her head, "Otogakure."

Naruto's eyes widened in disbelief, "What the hell was a ninja from the Sound doing here in Konoha?"

Sasuke's hand tightened around his cup of tea, causing the china to crack. Sakura leaned over and took the cup from his shaking hands, before the Uchiha crushed the porcelain in his fist, "Ino, do you know who it was, specifically?" Sakura asked her best friend.

Ino took a deep breath, "I don't know if I should tell you. Tenten may not want you to know."

"Ino," Shikamaru's voice rumbled behind her, "We are her friends. We are her comrades. We need to know."

Ino closed her eyes as memory of the pain flooded her senses.

_I was only in her mind for a minute, and the pain was overwhelming. The terror was tangible. But, it was only a taste of what she felt. I have no idea how long he did that to her. No wonder she is suffering mental damage as well as physical damage._

"Ino," the blonde's other teammate urged her to tell.

"Chouji . . . I can't . . . " everyone could see the indecision on her face, "It isn't for me to say."

"Please tell us," all the ninja turned to see Neji come out of the bathroom, soaked to the bone, holding Tenten in his arms. The girl shivered against the towel wrapped protectively around her.

Ino bit her lip, still unconvinced at telling the others about Tenten's nightmare.

"T-Tenten will be going through a l-lot of pain now," Hinata looked around at her friends, "W-We must help her as she g-goes through this."

Ino nodded, but her eyes were glued to her lap. She felt Shikamaru's arms tighten comfortingly around her. Finally, she whispered the dreaded words, "She was raped by Kabuto."

The silence stretched in the room. The tension in the room magnified, stifling everyone and a chill ran through the occupants in the room.

Ino looked down at her lap, tears dripping down onto her legs. _I'm sorry, Tenten, I had to tell them._

Shikamaru's arms tightened around his girlfriend as he pictured what Ino must have seen in Tenten's mind. _Damn! No wonder . . . _

Neji took in a sharp breath as he looked down at the girl in his arms. _I'm sorry, Tenten. I was being an arrogant bastard, not able to help those closest to me. I am a useless shinobi._

Lee stopped, mid pace, staring down at the floor. _He violated our blossom! Our youthful blossom is now scarred! We must not let him get away with such a disgraceful deed!_

Sasuke's hands balled into shaking fists. _That Kabuto bastard . . ._

Sakura's eyes flew open, her hand covering her mouth in horror. _No! anyone but him! That sick excuse of a medic nin . . . Oh, hell . . . _

Temari's eyes widened a bit, snapping around to look at the towel clad girl in the Hyuga's arms, imagining the pain she must have felt. _Damn! That must have been awful!_

Kankuro stared at the wall, gritting his teeth in anger. _No one should have to live through the type of hell that creep can think up!_

Hinata's lips trembled as she gripped the hands of her teammates for comfort. _P-Poor Tenten . . . _

Kiba emitted a low growl from the back of his throat while Akamaru snarled at the name of their enemy. _We're gonna hunt them down and make them pay. That's the way dogs are. We never let the enemy run away after he hurts one of us._

Shino's eyes glinted dangerously behind his sunglasses, feeling Hinata's crushing hold on his hand. _Watch out, Kabuto . . ._

Naruto was slowly becoming enveloped with red chakra as his anger triggered the Kyubi's power to rush out of him. _I will protect my friends with my whole being! If I can't help a single friend, then I might as well stop trying to become Hokage._

Chouji stared ahead at space, his chips forgotten. _That bastard . . . _

Gaara stared at the scene, seething that his allies were hurt by the enemies. _Hurt the Leaf, and you hurt the Sand . . . _

Sai looked at the girl, feeling a twinge inside him. He didn't know what it was, but it is a feeling known to us as sadness. _Him again . . . _

* * *

Kabuto bowed to the Lord of Otagakure, "Lord Orochimaru!"

"Kabuto," the man sat on the chair in the front of the long, dimly lighted hall.

"The mission was accomplished," Kabuto raised himself, handing his superior several cards, "Their information was stored in these ninja info cards."

"Good," the older man smiled patronizingly, "It is time."

* * *

Tenten opened her disoriented eyes to see arms around her, holding her to a strong chest. Her heart began to beat erratically as a picture of arms pushing her into a wall involuntarily flashed into her mind. She tried to find her voice to scream out, but she couldn't.

_I'm weak. I couldn't hide. I couldn't protect myself. I'm weak . . . _

She struggled with her captor as she began sobbing, trying to get out of those arms that were holding her prisoner. She lashed out, her flailing limbs catching anything that came close to her. Then, a sharp slap brought her to reality.

Hinata stared at her hand, which was still stinging from the blow. She bit her lip, "I-I'm sorry . . . I-I didn't mean to . . . " her voice trailed off as the others stared at the timid girl.

"Th-Thank you," Tenten whispered to the girl, "You snapped me out of it." Hinata nodded, tears starting to fall, still feeling guilty about the blow.

Then, the kunoichi looked around the room, to find everyone staring at her. The looks ranged from pained to angry to downright scathing. The anger was not directed at her, but . . .

_They know. Oh, God, they know._

She turned away, ready to face their wrath, but was instead enveloped by Hinata's arms. Sakura, Ino and Temari joined them, hugging the distressed girl.

"It's okay," Sakura smiled at the girl, "We're your friends. We'll be here for you."

* * *

Orochimaru glanced at his second in command, "You're sure this will work?"

The confident medic ninja nodded, "Yes. You won't have to keep changing bodies every 3 years after this."

"It had better work!" Orochimaru looked dangerously at his subordinate, who left immediately.

* * *

Tenten looked up at the pink haired girl through her tears. Sakura smiled gently as she stroked Tenten's dark hair, comforting the older girl. She looked around her, the other girls looked worried, but they were all trying their best to reassure her. No words were spoken, but the underlying tone was clear. They would be there to support her and to help her through thick and thin.

Tenten's eyes closed as she smiled weakly, but she was still unable to staunch the flow of tears.

"It's okay," Ino's blue eyes were sincere as she whispered to the girl, "We're here for you."

Neji looked on at the girls comforting a broken Tenten.

_I could have prevented it! I could have saved her from this pain!_

The pain on his face was obvious, and a hand clasped his shoulder. Lee glanced at his teammate, "Neji, it is not your fault."

Neji's hands balled into shaking fists as he sought an outlet for all the pain and the anger that was pent up inside him. Lee's firm hand led him out of the room and towards Neji's bedroom. In an unspoken agreement, the guys rose as one and filed out after them.

* * *

After Tenten calmed down a bit, Hinata stood up from the floor and went to her closet, rummaging around until she pulled out a set of clothes. She handed the neatly folded bundle to Tenten.

"H-Here . . . " the shy Hyuga girl smiled timidly at Tenten, "Y-You can wear these . . . "

Tenten smiled her thanks to Hinata, taking the proffered clothes from the lavander haired girl and heading to the bathroom to change.

* * *

"Neji, it wasn't your fault," Lee entered Neji's room, dragging his Hyuga teammate along with him. The other guys filed in silently behind the two, not wanting to disrupt the moment between teammates.

"It _was _my fault! I should have been there and kicked that bastard's ass! I should have been able to save her! I can't even look at her without feeling guilty about it!" Neji stormed over to the wall, leaning his head against the smooth, cool surface, "I feel like such a bastard for making her go through that! I doubted her! I thought she was double timing me when she was actually being raped by that bastard! Damn! _Damn!!_" The sight of the usually stoic genius actually acting out of character would have been amusing, if the situation wasn't this serious.

"Neji!" Lee snapped, stopping the young ANBU captain in midpace, "You could _not _have stopped it from happening. This is _not _your fault. Stop blaming yourself! Damn it!" The eyes of everyone in the room widened considerably at the usually well mannered boy curse, "Don't blame yourself! It's Kabuto's fault! Not yours! Tenten needs you. She needs you right now! And she needs you to help her through this, because only _you _can!" Neji stared at his teammate, but he understood. Tenten needed him. It's all that matters.

There was an uncomfortable moment of silence after Lee's outburst. No one knew what to say, exactly.

"Well," Naruto broke the silence, "Should we tell Grandma Tsunade?"

"No!" A voice behind them spoke, making them all turn. Tenten stood in the doorway, flanked by the other girls, staring them down in defiance, daring them to object. Unfortunately, Naruto could be dense at times.

"But, don't you want Grandma Tsunade to send us after those bastards after what they did to you?" the oblivious blonde tactlessly raised the touchy subject, causing Shikamaru to shake his head in pity at the clueless boy.

"No," Tenten repeated herself, though softer this time, "I don't want anyone to know. Please!" she pleaded with them, "Look, you guys became all silent and different around me. I'm fine! I'm okay. I'll get over this. I _will_. But until I do, I do not want every person I meet to treat me like I'm a porcelain doll. I'm not breakable. I'm a kunoichi. There have been others who have suffered worse than this, and yet bore it patiently. I will be no different. Please don't tell anyone."

They saw that she meant this, and, one by one, the guys slowly nodded their heads. It wasn't their secret to tell.

Sakura looked to Neji's alarm clock, located on his bedside table, "Hey, it's 3 AM."

All of them looked momentarily stumped that so much could happen in so little time.

"H-How about we girls h-head back to my room?" Hinata asked quietly. No one objected, and the girls left the room. The guys looked around at each other, at a loss as to what to do.

"Ah, this is so troublesome," Shikamaru sprawled out on the floor, staring up at the ceiling, "It's too early to go out, but it's too late to sleep."

The others merely sat down wherever they felt comfortable. Chouji opened a bag of chips and began to eat. Shikamaru brightened a bit when he saw a shougi board in the corner. Sasuke challenged his fellow genius to a game, and they sat down on the different ends of the board. Soon, you all could hear from them was the methodical sounds of pieces being moved around the board. Kiba, Naruto, Lee and Chouji began to argue over different training regimens.

"First there's the 2,000 pushups, 1,000 leg squats and 1,500 jumpropes to loosen up. Then, it's 2,000 punches, 2,000 kicks, and 200 laps around the clearing." Lee outlined his morning training.

"Chouji! Eating cannot be defined as training!" Kiba snorted as Akarmaru barked his agreement.

"Well, jumping around through the trees, having Akamaru pee on the trees doesn't count as training either!" Chouji said through mouthfuls of chips.

"That's his Aerodynamic Marking! It's actually useful!" Kiba huffed.

"Well, I convert calories into chakra, so eating is useful too! Besides, without proper nutrition, you could die!" Chouji snapped, opening another bag of chips.

"Well, it's been a while since Pervy Sage trained me. It doesn't actually matter all that much, though. Whenever I went training with him, he would do his "research" and "accidentally forget" that he was supposed to train me," Naruto turned to Lee, ignoring Kiba and Chouji's bickering.

Shino, Gaara and Neji talked about politics and about boring meetings while Kankuro commented on how boring their conversation was. Sai sat and sketched random things as he listened to everyone around him.

* * *

"Bodies that I can switch in and out of at will?" Orochimaru mused, his eyes glinting, "Interesting . . . "

* * *

**A/N: One of the dynamics I'm trying to protray here is the fact that all of the ninja have grown closer. They are now bonded really well and they all understand each other a lot. So, even those not on Tenten's team will be close to her because they will have been on the same missions at some point, or just known each other for some reason or another. Ha, just to let you guys understand it a bit more. Now, please review and I will put out the next chapter faster than this one came out. Sorry . . .**


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